France, Germany baulk at EU plans to ditch renewables’ grid priority

Renewables should be the last energy source to be denied grid access, Germany and France have warned, as details emerged of Brussels’ plans to downgrade renewables’ current preferential access to power markets.

A leaked impact assessment for a new energy market design showed that the European Commission is considering removing priority dispatch for renewable energy after 2020. Under the current Renewable Energy Directive, this allows renewable power generators to sell their electricity on the market ahead of conventional power sources such as coal, gas and nuclear.